PUDUCHERRY: Amid uncertainty over the conduct of local body elections in Puducherry scheduled on October 21, 25 and 28, political parties have been busy preparing for polls. There has also been a small respite for them, as the Madras High Court has postponed the date of start of nomination process from September 30 to October 4.
Both the Secular Progressive alliance (SPA) of Congress, DMK, Left parties, VCK and MDMK as well as the National Democratic alliance (NDA) of AINRC, BJP and AIADMK have been struggling to come to a consensus on seat sharing.
The SPA has decided to form a core committee to resolve the issue of seat sharing, after two rounds of negotiations failed. After holding meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, the parties resolved to work together to win by overcoming conflicts, said AM Saleem, State convenor of the CPI.
The major bone of contention is between the Congress and DMK, particularly over the post of Chairman for Puducherry Municipality. Moreover, the DMK wants to lead the alliance by virtue of its performance in the previous Assembly elections, when it won six out of 13 seats it contested. The Congress had won two out of 14. The Congress also wants all the prestigious seats in Puducherry region, sources said.
The debacle in the Assembly elections is no criteria to judge the party’s strength as the setback was caused due to nine candidates switching loyalties at the eleventh hour, leaving no time to fill the vacuum, said PCC President AV Subramanian. “Now the situation is different with several good candidates ready for contesting the polls successfully,” he said.
Meanwhile, NDA has scheduled its meeting for Thursday, after BJP refused the seat-sharing formula adopted for Assembly elections, as per which the AINRC would contest 60 per cent seats, leaving the remaining 40 per cent for BJP and AIADMK. The postponement of poll process could give the political parties a breather and help resolve issues.